In The Blink Of An Eye
by FlashRemnant
Summary: Time. Time is such a valuable and an important part of the universe. Without it, the universe cannot move forward and in the blink of an eye, all we know can cease to exist. To a speedster, time is an eternity. ONE-SHOT. SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4. COMPLETE.


**In The Blink Of An Eye**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash, or any of the characters associated in this story. The CW, DC Comics and Warner Bros own all of those rights. I do not own the first paragraph of this fiction, as it is taken from an article published online Exactly What Is Time, or some of the quotes. I merely own the rest of the words written on page and the plot.**

 **Author's Note: Hey guys...has it really been 11 years I've been a member of this community? Crazy to think. Back in the day, I wrote the odd couple of Suite Life fanfiction. I had so many ideas, and I wrote and wrote on my laptop, but I never finished them, and so, I never published them. I had one or two up here, but then I deleted them cause I had moved on. And so I wrote NCIS, actually published two of them like four years ago. Didn't finish the other. Recently been working on that one cause I have got back into NCIS again. But it got me thinking recently. I've always read so much stuff on here, and I still love it the same as I did back when I was only a teenager, and I see writers like 'trufflemores', whom I must give credit for cause they have wrote so much over time, and it's incredible to read that stuff cause you can just feel the emotion, and you can see they have such a talent for writing. And it just makes me want to be on that kind of level, and write and write that many.**

 **I've been writing for the longest of times, since I can remember and I've always had the imagination, and always had dreams of being a writer, amongst other things. I got a little lost a long the way, but as far as I am concerned, writing was always the first career I was serious about. And apart from my goals to compose music for TV and Movies, and just work in the film industry in general, I have always still wanted to write. So I decided to start writing my first ever screenplay. But as always, I hit a wall and I don't actually finish anything I write. But I don't want that anymore. I just want to write and write and write...And I don't want to stop until I finish whatever I write. And I want to publish more, so people can finally see what I have to offer, instead of hiding in the shadows. I want to build that reputation and show my talent.**

 **And I'm so thankful to trufflemores for inspiring me, so thank you if you're reading! Because I actually gained some inspiration to finish this piece from reading their 'The Hero Never Sleeps' for Flash.**

 **And I'm quite proud to say that this is my very first Flash fanfiction I've finished. It's only short, but I never intended it to be a long piece or anything.**

 **Anyway, I was thinking what it must be like to be a speedster, as the concept of time for Barry is so different to how we perceive it, and it sparked a little idea in me. I know the show does show some glimpses from his perspective, like they did in 'Enter Flashtime', but I wanted to go into it a little more, and I ended up writing this little thing about what time actually is.**

 **I was doing some research about time, and I took an extract from a website I read, and the first paragraph is taken from it. If you want to read the full article I got it from, and you're all scientific and nerdy and what-not, search for 'Exactly what is time' and give it a read. It's under the Physics of Time I'm pretty sure.** **Cause me being a nerd and all, I found it really interesting, even though I couldn't wrap around it properly ahaha.**

 **But enough with my very long Author's Note and I hope you all enjoy and please review and let me know what you think afterwards because knowing what you guys think would mean the world to me. Now on with the story!**

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 **Summary:** Time. Time is such a valuable and an important part of the universe. Without it, the universe cannot move forward and in the blink of an eye, all we know can cease to exist. To a speedster, time is an eternity. **ONE-SHOT. SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4.**

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 _"It's an eternity. You can see to the ends of the universe and back, and to the end of time itself."_

 _Time._ Time is defined by its measurement. _"In non-relativistic or classic physics, the concept of time generally used that of absolute time, also called Newtonian time after its most famous proponent, time which is independent of any perceiver, progresses at a consistent pace for everyone everywhere throughout the universe, and is essentially imperceptible and mathematical in nature."_ ** _Time is considered an infinitely divisible linear continuum._** Relativistic time has become the norm within physics.

Time is a clicking tock. As each second passes, the hand moves, and before we know it, seconds turn into minutes, and minutes turn to hours. And before you know it, everything has changed. To the rest of humanity, time is a constant variable. Before the first particle accelerator explosion, I would have said the same thing. But when your DNA is transformed and you wake up from a coma with the ability to run faster than the speed of sound, and so much more, your perspective on things change. And time simply becomes an illusion, always changing the faster you move.

In the blink of an eye, the human eye can perceive something as barely imperceptible, and just like that, with a click of your fingers, the moment can pass and it is gone.

In a blink of an eye, you can watch your mother die a thousand times as the knife penetrates her skin, right into her chest. In the blink of an eye, you can watch a man with abilities just like you phase his hand right through your father's heart, and the tears burn and sear your face as you watch him crumble to the ground in slow motion. In the blink of an eye, you can watch a version of yourself impale the love of your life into her back, right through her chest, and she bleeds, tears pouring down her face as you race to get to her, to catch her in your arms, time feeling like it has stopped, ceasing to exist.

 ** _Theology._** **A timeless state into which the soul passes at a person's death.**

It's an eternity to get to her before she too crumbles, and you cradle her in your arms as she dies, and you know no amount of time can change anything. You can live that whole moment _over and over_ again, and the memory is still as fresh as the day you first saw it happen in a future that doesn't exist anymore. And even as you lay in bed, looking at the same woman who you vowed to love and protect forever, the same woman who has always been your everything, who you took her hands in yours, and placed the ring on her finger, making her your beloved wife…even then, the expression on her face as she was impaled still haunts you to this day. And you place your hand gently against her cheek and caress it, and she stirs softly in her sleep, but never awakens. And you feel thankful she is still alive.

But then the faces of people, _strangers,_ you couldn't save take residence in your mind, but they'e so much more than strangers. _They're people I couldn't save._ And no matter of amount of time you have, none of it can change anything. _Time can't save Ronnie, Eddie, Dante…Ralph. Time can't save any of them._ It can bring them back, but nothing would be the same, and the consequences would be so much more severe. _I couldn't live with myself with anymore changes to the timeline. Cisco's brother would still be alive. It's all my fault._

Except Ralph isn't really dead after all, _but it still doesn't take away the pain._ The memories are still there, still raw as anything as he is helpless to only watch as Devoe's hand is pressed against Ralph's head as his consciousness is transferred into his friend's body. _It's my fault we thought we lost him. I could have done more._

Five years ago, the concept that time travel was even remotely possible was beyond him. It was theoretical it could be, but in his wildest of imagination, he never would have thought that _he of all people_ would actually have that kind of power to time travel and change _everything._

But he has to remind himself that he isn't a God. And that's okay. But a part of him refuses to accept that. But he had learned better from Savitar.

In the blink of an eye, you can watch a seed grow into a beautiful flower, reaching it's full bloom. You can watch all of the stars in a night's sky shine brightly as they slowly burn out. You can read a thousand books and gain all of the world's knowledge. You can become an expert in any skill or craft. You can become an artist, a novelist, an architect, a builder, a doctor…a scientist. You can learn an entire ancient language, and not blink twice. You can become many things and achieve all the success you'd ever desire. You can become the most powerful being that ever lived.

You can live a hundred years, and you can watch your whole life pass you by. You can outlive all the ones you hold most dear. And it feels as if you are _immortal._ Except you know you're not. You have to remind yourself that you're not invincible. You could be gone, and everything you know would cease to exist.

And then you are gone.

All you know from that moment on is that you are _finally at peace._ You don't have the weight of the whole world on your shoulders anymore. You're free to finally rest. And you become lost in time, merely just existing as energy, an entity that exists within the natural speed force, and you know you've sacrificed yourself for the greater good.

There's that word again. _Time._ A constant variable. Except it's not so constant when you're become One and part of the Speed Force. You can experience your life a thousand times, over again. You can see your whole past and whole future play out, and it's like a button stuck on replay. It's an infinite loop, timeless, never ending. Out in the real world, as a speedster, you have control over how you perceive time. It's simple, the faster you run, the slower time is. But in the Speed Force, there is no sense of time. It's an eternity. You can see to the ends of the universe and back, and to the end of time itself.

But then you wake up, and you're running to protect the love of your life, faster than you've ever visioned was possible, due to the exponential amount of energy your cells absorbed whilst in the Speed Force. You have no perception just how _fast you can run now_ without quick calculations, but all you know is to just _run._ And you're aware of how much time you have to make-up. _Because six months is too long, almost feels like a lifetime. Six months I left her alone…I left them all alone. I had to do something though. The world needed me. But they needed you too. You weren't there for them, just like you weren't there for Cisco when you made his brother die. When Caitlin needed some direction to find herself again. When Wally needed you to show him the ropes. When you lost HR. When Joe needed his son….When Iris needed you._

 _No amount of time can change that._

Time is what makes the move world. Time is what brings a new day. Time is what heals old wounds... _but they never truly heal._ The memories are still there, as fresh as ever. A part of you wishes you could just forget, _but you can't._ You need those memories. They serve as a reminder to not make the same mistakes again. They help you continue to grow and evolve, and to be better, and do better. They remind you _there's always another way._ And then you're reminded of _the pain_ , and it's all you can focus on.

But then I see _her smile_ as she looks back at me with a tired expression on her face. And she asks softly, "Another nightmare?"

You nod in exhaustion, in this moment imagining what it must be like for his Earth 2 counterpart to just be a regular human being, having his full night's rest to prepare for the next day, for he barely recognised what it was to be a non-meta anymore - it had been that long in his perspective.

In realtime, defined by humans, you can sleep for two hours and you awake feeling as though you need eight more. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to rest for more than two hours, for it is such a foreign concept to the speedster these days. _Two hours sleep, just peace and serenity._ What a wonderful thought. The thought of that to Barry Allen is paradise. It was like a dream. Two hours sleep would leave the speedster feeling more rejuvenated than ever, giving him more than the energy it would take thousands of men to build a damm or two in a world without machinery. Two hours sleep would allow him to run at speeds of 3.6 million miles per hour, at around Mach 4692. Not as fast as the speed of light, but still faster than he could have ever imagined in his wildest dreams. _That would have been handy facing Thawne, Zoom, and Savitar._ He can't help but laugh to himself, thinking running at Mach 2 in the beginning was a stretch.

But he's realised something…it doesn't matter how much speed he has, there would always be another defeat ahead of him, and another battle he would have to face, _and his speed still wouldn't be enough_. But that will come with time. _Time._

 _"_ ** _Time is a linear continuum of instants_** **(philosopher Adolf Grünbaum).**

 ** _Time is_** **a continuum that lacks spatial dimensions (Encyclopaedia Britannica).**

 ** _It is the continuous passage of existence in which events pass from a state of potentiality in the future, through the present, to a state of finality in the past_** **(World English Dictionary).**

 ** _It is a non-spatial system in which events appear to happen in irreversible succession_** **(WordSmyth Dictionary).**

 ** _It is not an object or substance we can touch or see. But neither is it merely a dimension, quantity or a concept. Indeed, time has many aspects and appears to represent different things to different people in different circumstances._**

Time is something we deal with every single day, and we think we have this understanding of how it works. I'd be lying if I said I did either. But the reality of the matter is, we don't. _Not really._ No, not even a speedster has all the answers of time. If we had all the answers, _we would have changed everything._

Time is such a complex and essential part of the universe that I can't even fathom, even with all the time in the multiverse. All I know is that the universe cannot function without it. Everything we know would cease to exist.

And in a blink of an eye, all we know can be gone.

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 **Hope you all enjoyed and don't forget to review. Stay tuned for more in the future!**

 **Love you all.**

 **\- FlashRemnant**


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